ZAC Volume 1
by radastorm2
Summary: A government attempt at air purification goes wrong and turns people into zombies. Can 3 teens survive and save the world? / ZAC (Zombie Apocalypse Collab) Volume 1: Impact / Created by radastorm2, lord ESM, and Papaya Penguin / Papaya Penguin's DA: search slim58 on deviant art /
1. A Supprise

Part 1: Contact / Chapter 1: A Supprise

She immediately jumped, shocked by the sudden snap of a small twig beneath her foot. Blinded by the neon pink bandana, she focused on her hearing ability for the sake of her survival. Delia was the kind of clumsy person who could possibly be capable of causing someone to fall off a cliff by accident, which is why Melony kept her senses alert.

"You're going to be the cause of my death. You know that, right?"

"I'll show you where we are in a moment, Mel! There's a reason why I tied that blindfold onto you," Delia energetically replied, and Melony's grip on Delia's hand tightened as they continued up the rugged dirt trail. Melony never liked surprises, but this was her "best sister," or best friend and sister, so she decided it wouldn't hurt to play along. She had regretted "playing along" right after Delia tied the bandana in front of her eyes.

"Okay, now we're here!" She squealed, then pulled the bandana off Melony's face. She looked around, realizing that Delia had taken her to a campsite.

"Camping. Couldn't you had at least warned me? Last time I wore outdoor clothes to a surprise, you took me to a fancy restaurant. Now, you take me to this place in this outfit?" Melony pointed to her berry-colored dress she had worn to "the surprise," thinking that Delia would take her to another formal event.

"Well, at least you wore your leather jacket and leggings. You won't get too cold. Besides, I brought ponchos!" Delia optimistically pointed to the poorly-set-up tent under a redwood tree. Easy for you to say, you're wearing a comfortable scarf and a heavy jacket. An audible sigh came from Melony's voice as her lips curved into a smile.

"You're a nut," Melony quickly said, nudged Delia in the side, then began scavenging around in the tent, hoping Delia brought enough supplies to at least be able to survive camping one night. A radio in the tent suddenly came on, startling Melony, and she picked it up to listen to what it had to say. It said something about the new world-spread anti-pollution spray being a success. Pollutions levels decreased by 0.0032%, so if they sprayed it daily, the world could become a cleaner place. It wasn't like Melony cared about this crap, so she turned it off and put it to the side. The spray would most likely cause another problem, just like last time; they'll try, succeed only a bit, then fail. It always has been like that since pollution levels have gotten higher than the ill can tolerate. Chain reactions are how life works, you can't have life without change. Melony continued to dig through the pile of junk in the tent, making sure Delia had brought everything.

"We're going to need to go back down," Melony hollered, head pulling out of the tent after a few minutes of scavenging through it. Delia had forgotten their blankets. Sure, they had a tent, but tents don't keep out all the icy cold wind of La Honda. Melony and Delia had moved here with their parents only two weeks ago, and they barely knew anyone at their new high school, Autumn. Melony was glad she had Delia. The weather in California was always crazy and bipolar, making this Spring Break feel like Winter Break. Melony didn't exactly want to freeze to death that night. After not hearing an immediate reply, Melony looked around, realizing Delia had wandered off. It was only three in the afternoon, and the sun already look tired. Melony hoped she could find Delia before and darkness of late afternoon hit them.

"Delia? Delia?!" Melony yelled, wandering around in the tall redwood trees. She had been walking for ten minutes already, and had no reply. Where could she have gone to now... I hope she–

A sudden scream disrupted Melony's thoughts. Melony ran as fast as her legs could go, running through the sharp pine needles of the trees, and stumbling over the roots that stuck up like hands coming to hold her back from the ground. The freezing, biting wind clawed at her face and hands. Small, cold tears fell from the side of her eyes as she ran what felt like miles. Worry clouded the physical pain she experienced and took over her whole mind. She was scared.

"Delia!" Melony yelled when she saw her sister being cornered by some ravenous creature. They were back at the campsite, and Delia had her back to the trunk of a redwood tree. The creature's sharp teeth were its most prominent feature, along with the foul stench that followed it. It looked like a grown man, and almost like one of those hobos you could find living in the forest. It wore torn clothing and it's skin and eyes were pale. Its skin even looked like it was decaying. Bits and parts of his skin hung loose, revealing parts of the insides of a human body.

"Melony!" Delia cried, and the monster suddenly charged at her. Delia turned, Melony ran, and the creature jumped. Delia screamed and kicked as it tried to bite off the flesh from Delia's right forearm, blood spurting out. Melony grabbed a small pocket knife from a toolkit lying on the ground, and followed her instincts; stab the beast in the neck. Blood began leaking out of it's neck, and it lay on top of Delia. Melony pulled the knife back out as she helped Delia out from under the monster, then looked at Delia's arm. She frowned, grabbed the a few tools laying in the toolkit on the ground, put it in her black leather purse, and walked back to Delia. They could come in handy, and she would definitely need to keep the pocket knife handy. Unfortunately, Delia had left a good portion of the tools back at their house, meaning they had less weapons to use.

"Can you fix it?" Delia asked, skin already beginning to turn pale from blood loss. She lay on the cold dirt, shaking and shivering in fear, shock, cold, and pain. Dark red stained her golden locks and her gray tank top.

"I'll try, but we're going to need to get you some help," Melony replied, glad she had medical experience from classes she took during summers. Melony took a pillow cover and tightly wrapped it around Delia's wound to stop the blood from coming out, then took Delia by the arm and helped her stand up.

"Are you okay to walk?" Melony asked, and Delia nodded. Together, they slowly limped down the rugged, dirt-trailed hill to what they would soon need to accept as our new Planet Earth.


	2. A Hunt

Part 1: Contact / Chapter 2: A Hunt

To his parents and the rest of the adult world, a bunch of teenagers running around with toy swords covered in red paint trying to hit each other was a stupid and useless idea. Even so, Edward always loved the hunt. After all, it was in their primal nature to hunt, chase, and kill. Hitting someone across the chest would work too. Since they were on spring break, he and his friends met up everyday at the Autumn High School arena, where there was a ton of room to set up obstacles and run around. Their favorite type of set up was the city. It was a plywood supported by 2x2 wood beams arranged on a grid so as to simulate city blocks and streets. After setting everything up they would get several buckets of red paint to dip their swords in. Then they would begin, it was a free for all game.

"Eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, and twenty-three. New record, motherfuckers!" Edward yelled towards the rest of the group, holding up his sword.

"He does it again," commented his friend James, whom he had known since third grade.

"Alright, lets call it a break!" yelled Henry, another friend.

"Oh come on, we barely got started!" replied Victoria, Edward's crush.

"Just a quick break," Isabella, Henry's girlfriend and one of Edward's closest friends,

defended Henry.

After taking a quick vote they decided to take a break. As they all sat down in the break room, James turned on the radio, and it began talking about how the new world-spread anti-pollution spray that was sprayed yesterday was a success. Pollutions levels were decreased by 0.0032%, so if they sprayed it daily, the world could become a cleaner place.

"Change the station, this is stupid," yelled Henry.

"Yeah, put on 94.9," said Edward. After spending twenty minutes listening to music and resting they heard a knocking on the door.

"I'll get it," said James as he walked towards the door. "Hello" he said opening it. Behind it were about some 14 students, all with Winter High School badges.

"Hey, up for a game of Stealth War?" A tall boy, the leader of their group, asked.

"Who is it, James?" yelled Edward, slouching into his chair.

"Winter," James curtly replied.

Standing up, Edward said, "sure why not"

"Great, another chance for me to beat you," Kenneth, the leader of their group, snapped at Edward.

"Long time no see Kenneth, glad to see you came out of hiding," Edward snapped back.

"Not hiding, training to beat you," he sneered.

"Alright enough chatter, let's go! But let's put down a little wager," Henry yelled, fist in air. "The losing team has to run around the neighborhood yelling 'I like _My Tiny Bunny_!"

"That's so lame," Victoria sighed, then suddenly perked up, "whichever boy wins the finishing point gets to kiss me!" she yelled, well aware she was the most popular and beautiful one in their group. She had already ten boys ask her out this semester, and she had rejected every single one. That was one of the reasons why Edward was so scared to ask her out; what if she thought he was just like all those other boys? Edward turned a color of bright red and made a "what are you doing?!" face at Victoria. His crush for her was so obvious, almost everyone knew about his love for her. But, being unaware of her surroundings, Victoria didn't notice the hints of his love for her. She just smiled back, seeming overly excited for this game.

"Perfect," smiled Kenneth, after a few whistles from the other boys in Winter's group. Kenneth raised a fist in the air for inspiration, and the group cheered.

"Are you sure about this?" Edward asked Victoria, and she replied with a simple "Yep." Edward had to win this. He hollered and held his fist in the air. The rest of his team hollered along, much louder than Winter. Edward and Kenneth had a long and interesting history. Kenneth, being Edward's nemesis since 6th grade, always hated him. Edward could always rile up a crowd and always won at almost any game. Edward was better than he was, and he didn't like that, so in 6th grade, he went up to Edward, punched him in the face, and began to attack his friends. He thought that violence was his solution to his problems. Unfortunately, Edward never made a big fuss over things, so Edward and his companions never acknowledged the physical damage Kenneth caused. The only way Kenneth could gain power over Edward was to win against him at anything and everything. And what better way to accomplish that then stealing a kiss from Edward's crush?

As the two teams went to their separate sides, a gust of green-tinted fog came in from the window on the Winter side of the room covering the Winter team. The fog in La Honda made these games a challenge, but this was the first time Edward saw green fog. He brushed off the fact and got back to business. Back on the Autumn side, they were putting on fresh new t-shirts and opening up two new buckets of red paint, Autumn's school color.

"You ready?" yelled Edward to the Winter side.

"Yeah! Let's do this!" Kenneth replied back.

"Charge!" yelled Edward, and the Autumn team rushed forward into the clouded arena, unknowing of what lied in the fog.

The Autumn team had a certain formation they followed by. There were three in the middle that were in the open and clearly visible, and two on each side flanking them, remaining as hidden as possible. Using this formation they moved forward and began seeking out the other team. Edward took point with the two girls while James took the right and Henry the left. Twenty minutes passed, and Winter's team was still no where to be seen.

"Where did they go? James! Henry! Regroup," called out Edward. But no reply came from either side. "James? Henry? You guys there?" he yelled again.

"Henry, don't tell me you abandoned!" yelled Isabella. James came running from inside a near by mock building. He looked completely out of breath.

"What happened out in there? Where's Henry!?" Isabella asked, worried sick.

"They tried to.. they tried to bite me!" James replied, not knowing how to explain the situation. He could barely get the words out of his mouth. He looked exhausted.

"What!?" yelled Edward.

"Winter's gone crazy," Victoria exclaimed, then put her hand on Isabella's shoulder. "Let's go find Henry," Victoria said as the two headed off into the mock city.

"It's not that simple," James said when the two left.

"What do you mean?" Edward asked, curious about what happened.

"They're zombies!" James directly announced, leaving Edward shocked.

"James, I think you might need to take a break," Edward said, worried for his friend's health. Edward knew his friend often made jokes and they would normally be inspired by comic books and video games, but he seemed to be serious about this. Maybe he was beginning to get delusional.

"I'm–" James started, but was interrupted from a loud, "Help me!" coming from the wooden city.

"That sounds like Victoria!" Edward jumped, then sprinted towards that direction without hesitation.

"Wait!" James yelled. James tried to catch up, but got left behind.

"It can't be possible. There's no such thing as zombies. They're just kids you find wandering around in their costumes on Halloween. Plus, it's probably Winter trying to distract us.," Edward mumbled to himself as he ran.

"Victoria! Victoria, where are you?!" Edward yelled, running through the mock city. The arena was so gigantic, anybody could easily get lost in it if you didn't practice in it daily. He had almost ran around the whole arena, and got no reply. All of a sudden, a moan came from the distance. Then another from behind. "Victoria?" Edward whispered, and stealthed through the trees, only to be met by Louis, from the other team. Edward breathed, then charged at him with his sword. It turned, but was too late. Edward had gotten the strike on him, but something out-of-the-ordinary happened; part of his skin ripped off.

"Holy shit! Are you okay?" Edward said, in shock. He was in top of Louis, and had him trapped on the ground. All he got in response was a moan. Louis was struggling to get up, but Edward was preventing his movement. He remembered what James said. Zombies. He looked at Louis, and tried to communicate with him again. Again, a moan. Edward turned his head away, unable to believe what was happening. How did they turn into zombies in the first place? With a push, the zombie sat up and gained the advantage on Edward. He was being pinned down by a zombie that was trying to eat his brain. Edward threw the thing off of him and ran as fast as he could towards the exit of the arena.

His friends were gone, and he was alone. He opened the doorway, only to be met with full-grown adult zombies who had probably been running errands or taking a stroll along the neighborhood. Now, they were the walking dead. Frightened, Edward ran as fast as he could into the forest. He hoped there were less zombies there.

When he got to the start of the trail, he noticed a pair of shoes behind one of the parked cars. It looked like it was shaking in fear, so Edward decided to check it out. He slowly walked around the car, and found James huddled in a ball on the other side, holding a screwdriver.

"James," Edward quietly said, which startled James. He jumped up and pointed the screwdriver in his direction.

"I told you," James began to cry, "They're gone."


End file.
